The NHS faces a major challenge in improving clinical and service quality while controlling costs.

By helping to develop and promote a culture of competency, the NHS Institute is seeking to help all NHS organisations achieve the same levels of quality and efficiency as top performing organisations. To help organisations achieve this level of competency in all areas, the NHS requires:

clear indicators to identify how an organisation is performing

workable solutions concentrating on clinical activities that offer the greatest scope for improvement

help for strategic health authorities to identify improvement opportunities in three key areas: commissioning, provisioning services and clinical care.

By concentrating on these key areas, the NHS Institute hopes to resolve current problems such as widely varying productivity and efficiency measures, problems balancing the books, availability of good benchmark infomation to help decision making, and help create world class organisations the NHS can be proud of.

Why is it important?

Tackling productivity, efficiency and fiscal issues will help turn the NHS into a high achieving organisation providing an economic, efficient and effective health care system.

What can it do for me?

By ensuring the NHS is being run as efficiently as possible patients are the given the best opportunity to receive, and benefit from, clinically and cost effective healthcare.